Introduction

Introduction:

The goal of the program is to prepare residents for practice in surgery therefore the program is dedicated to training residents to become competent in the management of patients, to develop good technical skills and to acquire adequate surgical knowledge. The residents are taught that patient care includes being compassionate and truthful, establishing a good relationship with their patients and exhibiting behavior which gives good credence to the surgical profession.

To achieve these goals, the residents are evaluated to show competency in the following 6 areas:

To meet these criteria, different tools have been developed to evaluate residents in these competencies, which will help to prepare the residents, in their 5 years of clinical training, to become independent, competent and humane surgeons.

It is the responsibility of the Advisory Committee under the leadership of the Program Director to review the implementation of these tools, to appraise the effectiveness of the tools and to suggest changes to improve them.
The residents are made aware of these objectives and are active participants in the appraisal of the effectiveness of the tools being utilized. The Chief Residents are members of the Advisory Committee. All Residents and Faculty meet once a year at the annual retreat to evaluate the goals and objectives of the program.

The department emphasizes that the patient and the patient's family are customers who when treated well, will continue to have care in our hospital and will refer others. It is expected that the residents show respect and empathy towards the patient. They must appreciate the needs of their patients, be receptive and make the patients feel at ease in expressing their needs, telling their story and asking questions. A personal connection at a professional level with the patient and family is of utmost importance.

All residents are expected to have an in-depth knowledge of the fundamentals of basic science of surgery.It is also important to apply this knowledge in clinical practice in a way which will optimize the use of the advances in medical technology (in investigations, invasive procedures, operative procedures etc.) while remaining cognizant of the cost of these advances in order to achieve optimal patient care.

Communication is essential, communication not only with the patient and family but also with healthcare professionals. The preventive health system is also an important part of patient care.

It is essential for the residents to be made aware of the use of simple non-technical languages easy for the patients to understand when explaining the patient's condition, the rational for diagnostic and/or operative procedures, the risk, benefits and alternatives, the plan of management and the follow up care.

To achieve these goals, the program has adopted the outline by the ACGME, which reads as follows:

General Competencies

The residency program requires its residents to obtain competencies in the 6 areas below to the level expected of a new practitioner. Toward this end, the programs defines the specific knowledge, skills, and attitudes required and provide educational experiences as needed in order for their residents to demonstrate:

a. Patient Care that is compassionate, appropriate, and effective for the treatment of health problems and the promotion of health
b. Medical Knowledge about established and evolving biomedical, clinical, and cognate (e.g. epidemiological and social-behavioral) sciences and the application of this knowledge to patient care
c. Practice-Based Learning and Improvement that involves investigation and evaluation of their own patient care, appraisal and assimilation of scientific evidence, and improvements in patient care
d. Interpersonal and Communication Skills that result in effective information exchange and teaming with patients, their families, and other health professionals
e. Professionalism, as manifested through a commitment to carrying out professional responsibilities, adherence to ethical principles, and sensitivity to a diverse patient population
f. Systems-Based Practice, as manifested by actions that demonstrate an awareness of and responsiveness to the larger context and system of health care and the ability to effectively call on system resources to provide care that is of optimal value

Evaluation : Evaluation of Residents

The residency program has an effective plan for assessing resident performance throughout the program and for utilizing assessment results to improve resident performance. This plan includes:

a. use of dependable measures to assess residents' competence in patient care, medical knowledge, practice based learning and improvement, interpersonal and communication skills, professionalism, and systems based practice
b. mechanism for providing regular and timely performance feedback to residents
c. process involving use of assessment results to achieve progressive improvements in residents' competence and performance

Program Evaluation

The residency program uses resident performance and outcome assessment results in evaluation of the educational
effectiveness of the residency program. The residency program has in place a process for using resident and
performance assessment results together with other program evaluation results to improve the residency program.